Is this me?

I am a wife and a mother of two beautiful girls. I am a friend and neighbour. I am a reader of books and a member of a sci fi reading group. I am 33. I don't like stairs (either going up or down). I don't like exercise or fruit although I love my vegetables. I am always busy. I decorate cakes and have my own business doing so - albeit a 3 month old one! I am not post natally depressed but yes, I am still on medication. I am permanently tired.

I was a teacher. I taught 10 and 11 year olds. I used to shoot bows and arrows and role play. I used to do science. I was considered to be bright. I went to The Queen's College, Oxford and studied Biochemistry. I used to play the flute. A long while back, at school, I was in choir and drama clubs. I studied ancient Greek during my lunch hours. I was weird.

Is this me?

In practical terms - yes. In theory - no.

The person I was then has long gone. I've wrestled with the conflict between the person that was and the person that is. Often I have felt a failure due to my lack of progress and the waste of any potential I had. It's hard to reconcile all the hopes and dreams I had with the reality of now but I only have to look at my girls and my husband to know I have everything I really need. Those hopes I had have been replaced by new ones.

The person I hope to be will be strong and loving; good friend and carer to her family. I hope to be true to myself and pursue my ambitions. I hope to be able to provide my girls with a strong role model - replacing should with could and teaching them to do the same. And always, always reminding them that they are unique. What is right for one person is not right for another and in knowing that, they can accept their own path.

So, in theory, I am not the person summed up by those few sentences - I am so much more. And I have so much more to do.